The Playboy Doctor's Marriage Proposal

‘Yeah, one of those mud cakes from the supermarket.’

Swabbing the inner aspect of his left arm she kept talking. ‘Sounds like a lovely party.’

‘It was, until we all started vomiting.’ His arm stiffened as the needle slid into his vein.

‘Sorry.’ She whipped the trocar out of the cannula and attached the Hartmann’s solution. ‘Now I can get you something to lessen the nausea.’

David stiffened on the trolley, his eyes suddenly wide and large.

‘What’s wrong?’

He flushed bright pink. ‘I need to go…now.’

‘Right.’ She grabbed a bedpan from under the trolley and helped him into position. ‘Here’s the bell, ring when you’re done.’ She backed out of the cubicle, feeling sorry for the boy who had left his dignity at the door.

‘Emily, how’s your patient?’ Linton stood at the desk, writing up a drug chart.

‘I’ve inserted a Hartmann’s drip. Can I have a Maxalon order, please?’ She slid her chart next to his.

‘No problem.’ His lean fingers gripped his silver pen as his almost illegible scrawl raced across the paper. ‘So does he have diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps?’

‘Yes, all three, poor guy. He’s pretty miserable. It sounds like a birthday party gone wrong.’ She opened a syringe and assembled it, attaching it to the needle. ‘David said his mum bought coleslaw and potato salad. Mayonnaise can harbour E. coli so I’m wondering if we should ring the health inspector to check out the deli.’ She snapped open the ampoule of Maxalon.

‘Good idea, and worth a phone call.’ Linton rubbed his creased forehead. ‘But if it was the deli we should have other people in with the same symptoms.’

‘Unless the Petersons left their food out of the fridge and in the sun.’ She confirmed the dose of the injection with Linton.

‘It could be the meat.’ He walked with her back toward the cubicle, his hands deep in his pockets.

‘True, except that a dad and his son were barbequing.’

He arched a brow and stared down at her. ‘Meaning?’

She ignored his supercilious look. ‘Meaning most of the blokes I know tend to char the meat rather than undercooking it.’

‘Now, there’s a sexist statement for you. I’m sure you have to be on the lookout for those in your assignment of interpersonal relationships in the clinical environment.’ He flashed her a challenging grin. ‘I can shoot your gross generalisation down in flames. I happen to be a brilliant barbeque cook and one day I will prove it.’

The dizzy dancing that had been spinning inside her since his invitation to drinks expanded. She couldn’t be imagining this. No, the signals were definitely there. He’d asked about her Master’s, he’d mentioned drinks, and now a barbeque. There was no doubt about it, he wanted to spend some time with her.

She ducked around the corner and helped her patient off the bedpan before inviting Linton in with the injection. ‘David, this is Dr Gergory.’

‘Hey, David.’ Linton extended his hand, treating the teenager like a young adult.

The patient put his hand out to grasp Linton’s and suddenly stopped. He flicked his wrist, shaking his fingers.

‘Is there a problem with your hand?’ Linton turned David’s palm over.

‘My fingers feel numb and tingly, like my hands have gone to sleep.’

‘Hands? Are both of them feeling like that?’ Emily caught Linton’s concerned gaze as her own unease increased a notch.

David nodded. ‘Yeah, it feels really weird.’

Linton placed David’s hand by his side. ‘It could be from all the vomiting. We’re replacing the electrolytes you’ve lost and we’re slowing down the vomiting with the medication. This should fix the tingling.’ He adjusted the drip flow. ‘We need to check on the rest of your family but ring the buzzer if you start to feel any more tingling, OK?’

David nodded wearily, not even raising his head from the pillow.

Emily tucked the blanket around him, made sure he could reach his buzzer and then followed Linton. ‘I’ll organise for bloods to be taken.’

‘Good, but let’s get everyone together and review the rest of the family first.’

Jason, Patti and Jodie all reported that their patients had similar symptoms after eating the same food.

‘So it’s an open and shut case of gastro, right?’ Jason recorded some notes in his spiral bound notebook.

‘Perhaps.’ Linton tugged at his hair, his fingers trailing a path, making his blond tips almost stand on end as he walked back to check on the eight-year-old.

‘Something’s not quite right, is it?’ Emily shared his niggling feeling of doubt.

His eyes reflected his apprehension. ‘I just get the feeling that if I call it gastro, then that’s just too easy. I think I’m missing something.’ He ushered her through the curtain ahead of him.

Little Jade Peterson lay quietly sobbing, her chest rising and falling in shuddering grunts.

‘Honey, does it hurt somewhere new?’ Emily ducked down so she was at eye level with the little girl.

‘No, but who’s going to look after Towzer?’

Emily exchanged a questioning look with Linton.

He shrugged his shoulders, his expression blank.

‘Who’s Towzer, Jade?’

‘My dog.’ She sniffed violently.

Emily stroked the little girl’s hair back behind her ear. ‘I’m sure your dog will be fine and waiting for you when you go home.’

She shook her head sadly. ‘But his tummy hurt too and he was sick.’

Linton bent down next to Emily, his vivid green eyes fixed on Jade’s face. ‘What did Towzwer eat?

She clutched her hospital teddy bear. ‘He loves sausages but he stole a chop too and Dad got cross.’

The meat. The buzzer sounded. ‘That’s David.’ Emily rose and walked quickly back to the cubicle.

Terror shone in the boy’s eyes. ‘My face feels all funny now. It’s like pins and needles and it’s really scary.’

‘We’re working on what’s causing these symptoms. I’m going to take some blood and hopefully that will tell us something.’ She gave him a reassuring smile and hoped her face didn’t show how worried she really was.